Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128195
[IN RfMI}1RfRfNCf] Don Vesco, 1939-2002 Vesco, his wife, Nonna, and their dog, Cricket, were fiItures at the Bonneville Salt Flats In the eariy '70s. Vesco was born into a family of By PAUL CARRUTHERS PHOTOS BY JOE MICHAUD/ SAN DIEGO ANTIQUE MOTORCYCLE CLUB D on Vesco, a man whose name was synonymous with speed, died on December 16 at Mercy Hos- pital in San Diego, California, after a bout with prostate cancer - just over a year after setting a wheel-driven land-speed record of 458.44 mph in his turbine-powered "Turbinator." Vesco was 63 years old. Prior to turning his attention to four-wheeled speed records, Vesco was first and foremost a motorcyclist. A road racer in the late 1950s and 1960s, Vesco first came to prominence with his victory in the 1963 U.S. Grand Prix, held at Daytona International Speedway. As the owner of Don Vesco Yamaha in EI Cajon, California, Vesco became a team owner and sponsor to many road racers, motocrossers and desert racers in the San Diego area. In 1971, he joined forces with 1969 250cc World Champion Kel Carruthers, and the two made a formidable pairing, forming the basis for Yamaha's success in AMA racing for years to come. It was a team that would also feature the late Cal Rayborn. Meanwhile, tlis passion for speed and for making things go fast had led Vesco to the Bonneville Salt Flats. In 1970, Vesco became the first person to ride a motorcycle at more than 250 mph. In 1970, he broke the 300mph barrier on his Silver Bird Yamaha, a streamliner powered by two TZ750 engines. In 1978, he bettered that, running a Kawasaki-powered streamliner to a speed of 318 mph - a record that would last for 12 years. 30 JANUARY 8, 2003' cue I e record. In October of 2001, Vesco set Vesco's goal was to break the 500- speed. His father, John, raced cars while owning a body shop, and his two brothers, Rick and Chuck, were also involved in motorsports, with an FIA world land-speed record of mph mark in the "Turbinator." It was Rick always at his side during those later runs at Bonneville. "You name it, we raced it," Vesco said in his bio upon introduction into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1990. "From our toys as little kids, to skateboards to bicycles, racing was always a part of my life. From the time I was a few months old, my dad took my brothers and I to all the races around San Diego." Vesco won often in local road races in the late-1950s and early '60s. In doing so, he caught the attention of Honda, which was just coming into the U.S. market. Honda hired him to race its rare and very expensive RC 161 - a 250cc, fourcylinder racer - to promote the brand. Vesco's relationship with Honda lasted until 1963, when he rode a Yamaha to victory in the U.S. Grand Prix at Daytona. In 1966, Vesco opened his Yamaha dealership in EI Cajon, and it became a popular hangout for racers of all abilities and backgrounds. In addition to Carruthers and Rayborn, racers such as Gene Romero and David Aldana competed under the Vesco banner at some point in their careers. After all his success at Bonneville with motorcycle land-speed records, Vesco turned his attention to the car record. In 1999, he earned the landspeed record for a wheel-driven car with the Turbinator streamliner - powered by a gas turbine helicopter engine - hitting 427.832 mph. Vesco was 60 years old when he set that n e .... s 458.440 mph - again in the Turbina- a dream he held all the way up to his tor. passing. eN I consider myself fortunate to have known Don Vesco. As a matter of fact, when I first came to America as a 9-year-old in 1970, I think he was the first person I met. Somehow, my father, Kel, and Don had worked something out so that Dad could race one of Don's Yamahas in the 250cc race at Daytona in 1970. Dad won the race, and Don suggested that we come back to race in the AMA series the following year. We did exactly that in 1971, and we've been here ever since. I guess you could say that Don was the main reason we moved here instead of heading directly from Grand Prix racing in Europe back to our home in Australia. After all, that was our plan - until Vesco got involved. I ultimately have Don to thank for the fact that I now have an American wife and two children. On the Saturday before he died, I had that opportunity - though not under the best of circumstances and without ever uttering the words. On December 16, Don Vesco died in Mercy Hospital in San Diego from cancer at a young 63. A man who spent his life risking his life, a man who went 458.44 mph just a year earlier, deserves better than to die of cancer at the age of 63, but cancer doesn't ask who you are or what you do. And I guess he was fortunate to have put in 63 years of doing everything that he wanted to-do - the 63 fastest years anyone could ever imagine living. I still remember staying in a motel on EI Cajon Boulevard, just a few blocks from Vesco's shop. The family stayed there until we found an apartment, my father and Don preparing the Yamahas that would bring many a victory to the CarruthersfVesco team. I remember the several trips to the desert with Don and his then·wife, Norma. We'd take our motorcycles and our dune buggies, and we'd head to the Southern California desert by EI Centro to ride and drive. Those days of riding in the desert are some of the fondest of my childhood. Again, I guess lowe those times to Don. And prior to that, I'd learned to ride a motorcycle - one of Don's motorcycles, a Yamaha Mini Enduro - on the salt flats at Bonneville, as Don and his streamliner went about the business of setting, or attempting to set, land-speed records. That land-speed stuff was his passion. Is there a more perfect place to teach a kid to ride a motorcycle than on the wide-open Bonneville Salt Flats? Again, Don gets a big thank-you. As an adult, I didn't see "Uncle Don" as much as I now wish I had. But I'd see him every once in a while, and he never seemed to change from the man I'd known in my youth. I'll always remember the glasses and the crew cut of the first American man I ever knew. Back then, he looked like he just stepped off the set of the movie The Right Stuff. though that was long before the movie was ever shot. But Vesco definitely had the right stuff, and he was a true pioneer at the Bonneville Salt Flats - a place to which he continued to return right up until last year, when he set that mark of 458.44 mph. I'll miss Don. And I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling indebted to him. One last time, thanks, Uncle Don. Rest easy. Paul Carruthers Kel Carruthers on the Don Vesco Yamaha at Daytona In 1970.